Our verdict: an all-in-one open-source business suite whose Community edition is genuinely LGPL-licensed and fully self-hostable, while the Enterprise edition that adds more apps, hosting and support is proprietary and paid — a capable self-hosted alternative to a stack of separate SaaS tools if you stay on Community.
Odoo is an all-in-one business suite that bundles more than 40 tightly integrated apps — CRM, sales and quotations, inventory and warehouse management, accounting, Point of Sale, manufacturing (MRP), HR and payroll, plus a website builder and eCommerce — into a single platform. It is developed by Odoo S.A. (Belgium) and runs self-hosted on Linux, Windows, Docker or source, through the web browser, and on companion iOS and Android apps.
Being honest about the model: Odoo is open-core. The Community edition is genuinely open source under LGPL-3.0 and free to download and self-host, so your data stays on your own server and database. The Enterprise edition — which adds apps like Studio, fuller Accounting/MRP features, mobile conveniences, hosting and support — is proprietary and sold as a paid, non-redistributable subscription. Odoo also offers hosted options, Odoo Online (SaaS) and Odoo.sh, where your data lives on Odoo's cloud rather than your own infrastructure.